


Battle-cry

by deutschistklasse



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Mentioned Pakku (Avatar), Missing Scene, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series, a torn wedding dress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26112208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deutschistklasse/pseuds/deutschistklasse
Summary: The wedding dress is finished. But why would she want this marriage? - A little peek into Kanna's head on the night she decides to leave everything behind.
Relationships: Kanna & Pakku (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	Battle-cry

Kanna stared at her wedding gown somewhat lost. It was at long last finished. It was a deep blue dress, lavishly embroidered and lined with white fur at the bottom and on the neckline. It was expensive and beautiful but yet, what she felt seeing that dress wasn’t overwhelming joy, wasn’t excitement or anticipation of her wedding. It was the exact opposite.

She touched her betrothal necklace, which was carved with great care by her fiancé. He did spoil her with gifts. He really did. But it wasn’t enough for her. It never was.

While she knew that he loved her, she didn’t felt it. Pakku was a talented young waterbender, self-confident, even arrogant, and he was sure that their marriage would be successful, of course.

But it wasn’t what Kanna wanted. She didn’t want a business contract with him. She wanted a loving partnership with equal standing, tolerance, and respect. But as a woman, she couldn’t hope for respect. Not in the Northern Water Tribe.

She wasn’t even a bender. She couldn’t be useful for the Tribe as a healer, and she couldn’t train with a weapon. Her sole purpose in this marriage would be to be pretty and subservient, raise the kids and be there for her husband.

She wasn’t blind, she saw what happened with her friends once they got married. Those funny girls with sparkling eyes and laughing mouths became women with tired eyes and impassive or frowning faces. They were just ghosts of their former selves, forlorn souls, barely there in the real world.

She asked Pakku once what his ambitions were, then she ventured to speak about her dreams too. They were shot down mercilessly. Independent work? Political position and leadership? Change in the treatment of women? Letting them learn how to fight or at least how to defend themselves? Not in Pakku’s world.

Kanna knew that what he offered was reasonable in the Tribe. Pakku’s barely concealed disdain for women wasn’t greater than most men’s. She would be safe and cared for, maybe even loved not just as a possession but as a person, but dependent on him for her whole life. And Kanna wanted more. She always wanted more.

She squeezed her necklace with enough force to rip it off. She gawked at it, the action surprising her more than it should. Her inner turmoil wasn’t something new, her displeasure with the situation was ripe and ready to harvest.

Kanna let the necklace slip through her fingers. She let out a battle-cry, desperate and fierce and inhuman, then she let herself move without control, without restraint.

When she came to herself again the wedding dress was in tatters, shredded beyond recognition. She worked on it for weeks, and it would be a miracle to repair it in time for the wedding. But did she want it repaired? _Did she_?

Was she really so disrespectful, just an ungrateful little girl for wanting change? For wanting to be treated as a person capable of independent thought?

Her labored breathing evened out as she stared at the ruins of her foolish dreams. She knew. She always knew that she didn’t have a future in the Northern Water Tribe.

She bent down for the necklace, putting it back on her neck. It would be a great reminder of everything she did and didn’t want for herself. Of a man, who loved her in his own way, but who never could have made her happy and content. Of a woman, who was ready to act differently.

She left and she never looked back, just a torn wedding gown remaining in her wake.


End file.
